Date: Thu, 7 Apr 1994 07:17:23 -1000 From: sasaki@das.harvard.edu (Marty Sasaki) Message-Id: Organization: Harvard University OIT/NSD Subject: light wind and kite balance... One of the things that is often recommended for flying in very light wind, is to remove the top spreader. The reasoning is that this lightens the kite and the spreader serves no real purpose in very light wind. It may work for some kites, but it doesn't work for a Katana. I misplaced the top spreader on my UL Katana. It is usually an AFC 1880 or something similar. All that I had in the shop was some AFC 1580, and Beman 13 lights. I used a 1580 and the kite just didn't fly well. Control in dives was touchy and the kite didn't track so well. When I put the Beman 13 in, the kite flew much better, with good tracking and easy control in dives. As an experiment, I flew the kite without a top spreader and found control even more difficult. The kite just keep wanting to reverse turtle... With the spar, I noticed no performance loss, only gain. -- Marty Sasaki Harvard University Sasaki Kite Fabrications sasaki@noc.harvard.edu Network Services Division 26 Green Street 617-496-4320 10 Ware Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 Cambridge, MA 02138-4002 phone/fax: 617-522-8546 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =